Does our offense really suck more than Sidney Ponson.. Really??

Well, I guess as long as the outcome was the same I can't be too disappointed, as I did expect the Royals to lose today.  But I'm pretty sure the fact Ponson actually surprised me and kept them in the game was even more frustrating.  Add in the fact that the Yankees only deserved probably 1 or 2 of their 4 runs and it's very very frustrating.  

First off, I thought Alberto Callaspo was the "experienced" second baseman?  Haven't we heard Trey talk a ton about how Bloomquist has the range, Teahen has the bat and Callaspo has the "experience"..  Dude looked like he was confused as all get out today.  Not making the right out, not tagging the runner and just running through the base assuming a force out.. all kinds of madness.

Anyway, Callaspo hate aside, the strikeouts and lack of discipline are killing me.  Pettite easily could have pitched another inning today if he wanted, he was just that efficient.  Sure, the strike zone was big, and I have beef with that, but the Yankees drew more walks and frankly, that pisses me off.  If there's one thing your offense should do it is to strive to draw more walks and get more hits than the other offense.  At a few points I felt like the offense was just swinging at anything that was a strike, instead of working the count and looking for a pitch to drive.  Pathetic.

I'm pretty sure Butler had the only hard hit ball period, and thanks to FSN we didn't even get to see the pitch.  Awesome, very reminiscent of the RSTN days.  The point is, the offense was awful for the 4th day in a row.  1 or 2 runs a game is not going to cut it in the ML, no matter how good MGD (Meche, Greinke, Davies) are going to be this season.  We have got to cut down on the strikeouts and we have to make the other pitcher work.

In other news, Jose Guillen went on the DL today.  Awesome.  It is definitely better than last season when he tried to play through a similar injury, but it always hurts losing your cleanup hitter.  No matter how much I rag on him, I recognize he means a lot to this team.  I am slightly confused though as to why Brayan and Tony Pena are still both on this roster.  Neither of them really does a lot for the bench.  Sure TPJ plays defense, but that's all he does, and Trey has yet to use him in 4 close games yet this year.  Brayan is the real head scratcher though.  I just don't understand the obsession.  He is a backup catcher who can play some in the field.  How'd that work out for JR House?  I understand the intrigue that he can bat from both sides of the plate.. but if he's a crappy hitter (okay, he isn't THAT bad) then it doesn't matter where he likes to swing the bat from, he isn't helping the offense very much.

Point is, I feel like Kila, Shealy, Maier, Costa, etc. would all be much more beneficial to this team than baseball.  Baseball has the most games of any sport that I know of, and players on the bench are going to get starts.  Who would you rather see grab 200 ABs for the Royals this year, Brayan and Tony Pena or Shane Costa and Ryan Shealy?  I thought so..

Jamey Wright will be the pitcher of the game, as he went 2 scoreless striking out 3 and giving up just a hit.  

Billy Butler hit a double, drew the only walk and scored the only run, earning him HoG honors today.

Let's hope the boys turn it around tomorrow against CC.. ugh.. haha.. just kidding, we all know Horacio Ramirez is going to start for the Royals..  Gil Meche will try to prevent the sweep on Sunday.  First pitch tomorrow is at 6:10.. 

Gload's Gone but HoSucky Still Sucks!

No More Gload

Well, the Ross Gload era officially ended yesterday, as the Royals sent him and 1.5 of his 1.9 million dollar salary to the Florida Marlins for a PTBNL.  Checking out the blogs I frequent, I was somewhat surprised to see so many intelligent people sad to see him gone.  Ross Gload was awful, he was pegged as a defensive player but had many lapses where he would not pay attention at all on defense.  (An attempted pickoff from Gil Meche (I think) where Gload was asleep and almost got nailed in the face comes to mind.  He was a "high average" hitter who never hit above .288 as a Royal.  And he was left handed.  While that is good, or at least is usually good as a hitter, it severly limits the positions you can play, and as a bench player, limits your usefulness.  Ross Gload was pegged as a decent outfielder, but I personally cringed every time I saw his name penciled in to play there.  Sure, we may get nothing good back, (I was hoping for Robert Andino before I saw he had been traded for Hayden Penn already), but either way, hopefully DM learned that it isn't good to give a player a multimillion dollar extension when he A. is not yet free agent eligible and B. sucks.

I imagine Mitch Maier will make the club out of spring training in Ross's spot, and then will get sent down when the Royals bump up their pitching to 12 players.

The Game

Horacio Ramirez sucks.  Period.  While following this game I almost wanted to throw up.  I surely don't want to write about his performance, so I wont.  Horacio is practically as bad as Joe Mays, Scott Elarton, Fatelvys Hernandez, DJ Carrasco, Brian Anderson, and all the other trash pitchers we've rolled out since 2004.  Awful.  Not any improvement.  Pathetic.  Frustrating.

I can't even type in real sentences anymore!

Anyway - the hitters had 7 hits and 3 runs, but more importantly they finally walked more than they struck out.  (4 walks to 2 strikeouts).  However, I'd prefer more walks, with more strikeouts being acceptable as long as there are more walks (like.. 6 a game would be nice! haha).  Well, regardless, the offense wasn't good enough to overcome Horacio's suckiness (kind of light trying to escape from a black hole..) and the Royals lost to the Rangers 9-3 in front of a crowd of 3,204.  The pitching was bad, giving up 9 runs on 13 hits, though they did strikeout 6 and walk 3. 

Hitter of the Game

The HoG award goes to Shane Costa, the only hitter with 2 hits on the day.  Shane was 2-2 with an RBI and no walks or strikeouts.  Shane is hitting .484 this spring, but likely faces a demotion to AAA Omaha before Sunday's 2 p.m. deadline.

Pitcher of the Game

Kyle Farnsworth once again wins the pitcher of the game award.  Kyle has been excellent since his first few apperances, as he pitched a scoreless 8th inning, walking one and striking out one, while allowing no hits.

Tomorrow 

The Royals will again take on the Texas Rangers tomorrow, but the location will be outside Arizona for the first time this year.  The game is scheduled for 7:05 Central Time and will take place in "Dr. Pepper Ballpark" which is the Rangers' AA affilatie's stadium in Frisco, Texas.  Zack Greinke will take on Vicente Padilla as each of them gears up for the regular season.

Expect my final "breakout candidate of the year" (relievers) post on Saturday and my "official predictions" post on Sunday.

As always, thanks for checking it out.

That'll Cost-ya -- My thoughts on Shane, and his Major League potential

Little Royals news today, but I'll hit the main points anyway:

• Mike Jacobs took a "personal day" and did not participate in any drills
  
• Jose Guillen swung a little in the batting cage but did not swing at live pitching, he did participate in drills for the whole day, however.
  

That is essentially all of the news that there is for the day.  Also, we have detailed information about Orlando Hudson's contract.  That breakdown can be found here.  It's just more proof that the more creative you can be, the better the chance you have of signing a player for a good deal.  On another note Orlando Cabrera is still available, and his asking price is down to 5.5 million supposedly.  DMGM.. Make it happen!

Also, I'd like to point out that an anonymous commenter left an excellent link that I was previously unaware to.  This page has a pretty good breakdown of the play-by-play for the intrasquad game I went over yesterday.  Thanks for this little treat anonymous!

Since today was pretty slow news-wise, I figured I'd start on my breakdown of our 40 man roster, one player at a time.  Today's player will be Shane Costa.  Costa is a pretty good example of a tweener.  He is a tweener for his position (not enough offense for a corner OF position, not enough defense for CF), and he is a tweener for his abilities, (is he a 4th OF, career AAAA player, or can he break into a starting lineup?)  

Shane was a 3 year player at Cal State Fullerton before being drafted in the 2003 draft as the 42nd overall player selected.  A few of the big name players selected closely after him are: Ryan Sweeney, Scott Baker, Andre Ethier, Jamie D'Antona, Tom Gorzelanny, and JoJo Reyes.  After being drafted Shane spent some time in Rookie ball, posting a 1024 OPS in 88 at bats.  Shane even saw 3 games worth of high A ball in his inaugural season.  Shane continued to rocket through the system, similar to many players during the Allard Baird era, reaching AA in his third year with the organization at the age of 23.  In 79 games Costa posted a 797 OPS with 24 walks and only 23 strikeouts.  Costa saw 4 games in AAA at the end of the year.  The very next year Costa would spend 73 games in the major leagues, batting .274 and posting a 709 OPS in 237 at bats.  This would prove to be Costa's best chance of sticking in the majors to date.  Shane also played 55 games in AAA that year, batting .342.

2007 would bring Shane another opportunity to play in the major leagues, this time did not go so well, however.  In 103 at bats with the Royals, Shane hit .223, posting an abysmal 558 OPS.  (Tony Pena, by comparison, posted a 640 OPS in 2007)  Shane still knew how to destroy minor league pitching, however, hitting .326/.402/.502 in 233 at bats.  

Last season saw Shane in AAA for the entirety of the 75 games he played in.  Fighting through injuries he hit .295 with just 39 strikeouts and 10 home runs.  Shane remains an option as a 4th OF for the Major League club this season, however that would probably require Mark Teahen winning the 2nd base job outright.  Most likely, Costa will start out again in AAA, providing depth in case of injury.  Costa has clearly mastered AAA, but may not have the abilities to move on to the next level.

While Costa has been written off by many as a AAAA player, he reminds me a lot of a former Royal who, while doing well in his time with the Royals, was traded for peanuts and went on to put up excellent numbers with his new club.  Like Costa, this player also played LF, and although not great defensively, he hits for a high average and is not prone to striking out.  He does not hit many home runs and does not walk a lot, but he manages to be a productive player.  The player?  Matt Diaz.  While their major league numbers are significantly different, I think their minor league numbers are very indicative of how similar these players are.

In 760 games Matt Diaz has a career minor league line of .313/.360/.488, for an OPS of 848.  Shane Costa has a line of .311/.373/.474, for an OPS of 847, in 416 minor league games.  While Diaz hits for slightly  more power, Costa clearly has the advantage in OBP, which is the more important advantage, in my opinion.  Costa also strikes out less and walks more.  Costa has 160 strikeouts to 131 walks in his minor league career, while Diaz has 471 Ks and 154 BB, in almost twice the games.

The point of this write-up, aside from providing insight and giving me a topic during a non-newsy day, is also to point out that some players just need a chance.  No one would argue that Matt Diaz is an all star or belongs in the hall of fame, or even that he will start a majority of the games in LF for the Braves this year.  But he has had an OPS plus of 114 and 124 in 2006 and 2007, which would have been the best on the Royals for both of those seasons.  I'm not saying Costa will live up to the few good years Diaz has had for the Braves, but I am saying that for the major league minimum, Costa could easily be on the same level as Jose Guillen as far as OPS+ goes.  While this isn't an end-all be-all stat, it certainly shows that the 13 million spent on Jose Guillen could be more wisely spent, perhaps on another above replacement player level middle infielder.

Well, I'll end the rant here, this post wasn't as well organized as I'd have liked, and most likely I will tweak my "player profile" posts in the future to be better organized and have better flow.  As always, leave any questions or suggestions for future topics in the comments.  Thanks for reading.